The stars and the moon glimmered in Anela's eyes as Kanah set her down.
The moment her feet touched the deck, she turned around and saw Kanah as she reached for his face. "Beautiful."
"Thank you, Anela. Now that the storm is gone, what else can I do for you?"
Anela looked dead into Kanah's eyes, and her body moved on its own as she whispered something in his ear.
Hearing those words, Kanah tilted his head. "I apologise, but could you be more specific?"
She leaned in once again and told him exactly what she wanted.
When she moved back and looked at him with her palms joined. He smiled and nodded. "I will. You have my word."
Without hesitation, he gave her his word, not knowing what type of justice she needed or who she even is. He gave Anela his word that her mother would get her justice.
Anela hugged him, and after a moment or two, they separated, and Maya held onto Anela's hand. "Come with me, the islands are near."
Without waiting for a response, the two girls ran off.
"Be careful!" Will yelled as he watched them run across the ship's length. He then sighed, looking at Kanah.
"You could have cleared the storm this whole time? Why didn't you?"
Haha
Kanah laughed as he rose to his feet. "You never asked, you were relying on your crew, your skills as a sailor, had you just relied on me, I would have done it a long time ago."
Will sighed once again, nodding his head to the side. "True, I was the one who told you we could handle the storm when you noticed it in the distance."
Another sigh, different from the first two; the first sigh was of tiredness, the second, acceptance, but this.
This was a sigh of relief, one of peace as he watched the glimmering port of Solara Islands draw close.
Two figures came between him and the island, Anela and Maya, as they stood at the front of the ship.
"Will her wish be truly fulfilled?"
Kanah, standing beside Will, looked at the girls and nodded. "Of course. Might I ask, who she is to you?"
"My sister's daughter."
Turning to his left, Kanah looked at Captain Will and then back at Anela.
"This is the first, I have seen her so happy. Thank you, Kanah."
Hahahaha.
"I have that effect on people."
.
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.
.
Soon, the ship sailed into the port at Solara.
It was a small port, big enough for only three or four large ships, and room near the shore for smaller boats.
It stretched into the sea, forming a T shaped structure.
The Wailing Maid sailed into the top of the structure, coming to a halt alongside it, with the sails rolled up.
Captain Will and the entire crew were baffled as they saw something they had never seen.
What greeted them was a sight unlike any other. The yellow lights that they saw from the distance were not lights, but rather the glow of thousands of earthen lamps filled with liquid butter and cotton buds.
Decorating the entire port like a temple, behind these lamps were the people of Solara, amassed in the thousands with flower garlands and earthen lamps of their own.
Anela, resting on her uncle's shoulder with his hat on her head, looked at the sight which for her seemed even more beautiful than the star filled sky.
Warmth radiated from the lamps as a warm night breeze hit her, the hair on her arms and legs stood up, and she shivered, the cold leaving her body.
From the captain's cabin, Kanah emerged with his grandfather on his back. Alongside him were his parents and Maya.
At their sight, the crowd that had gathered chanted in unison.
Kanah, Kanah, Kanah
He looked at them and smiled, walking towards the plank, where Captain Will and Anela were waiting.
Kanah shook hands with the Captain and handed him a gold coin. "Thank you for coming back for us, Captain."
Will refused the coin as he just sighed, bowed towards Kanah and touched his feet. "I did not come back on my own; you called me, and I am glad I answered. Let us stay with you."
Kanah bent forward and lifted Will, hugging him. "There are still things out there for you to do. Now is not your time, but I would like it if you stayed a day or two before you leave."
Then he handed him the coin and turned to Anela. "Just have a little patience, your wish will be granted."
With this farewell, he stepped forward on the plank and descended onto the pier.
He spoke as he walked away from the ship towards the crowd, his family behind him and their trunk floating along with them.
The chanting grew louder and louder, and when it fell in Benjamin's ears, he opened his eyes with tears in his eyes.
Mouthing the name as he joined the chant, looking up at the gathering of devotees.
Living on the most Pious land of Paneria, the Kingdom of the divine.
Solara Kingdom.
The devotees moved forward, putting the garlands on Kanah and his family.
They moved the earthen lamps in their hands before Kanah in a clockwise path in the air.
Chanting his name, showering him with flowers, and soon the crowd parted, and an old man with long braided grey hair tied in a bun and a long grey beard walked through.
Clad in a yellow cloth, wrapped around their legs and body, a paste made of soil adorned their forehead and throat.
There was no room for doubt that the man before Kanah was a Saint.
"At long last, you have arrived and made the holy land holier, so now, without wasting another breath. Let The Celebrations Begin."
He announced publicly, showering Kanah with more flowers before lying down at his feet.
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.
.
Far away in the city of Plied, in a park, Raghav sat under a streetlight on a bench facing the temple that was a few dozen metres from him.
A figure approached the temple in the park, taking off their shoes and climbing the stairs and sitting in front of the closed door.
On his wrist watch, he saw the time. "11:00 PM, they were supposed to be here by 10:00. I guess I will change locations for a while."
Standing up, Raghav dusted his pants and walked forward towards the temple. Once he was at the bottom of the stairs, he looked up at the boy, sitting there with his eyes closed and his hands joined.
Raghav took off his shoes, walked up the stairs and sat beside the boy, facing away from the door.
"Oh, my lord. Oh, The One. I know I do not think of you a lot, I hardly pray or live life like a devotee should, but you have always blessed me, you have helped me maintain a life safe from the vices and temptations."
He took a pause, crunching his face.
"I have one thing to ask of you. There is a girl in my neighbourhood, I really like her and I am going to ask her to marry me. I hope she says yes, and I was hoping you could make sure it happens."
Raghav crossed his arms and asked. "Are you happy and satisfied as things are right now?"
"The One, is that you?"
The boy called out, his eyes still closed.
"Behind you."
Opening his eyes, he turned his head and saw Raghav. He flinched in fear as he fell backwards, almost rolling down the stairs.
But Raghav caught him with his left hand, turning him around and having him sit beside him.
"You okay? Ummm…" "I am, sir Raghav. Thanks to you, I am Aman."
"Pleasure to meet you, Aman. Could I get the answer to my question?"
Awkwardly laughing, Aman rubbed the back of his head. "Yes, of course…. Ummm… Being honest, yes. Just talking to her, seeing her smile. I find happiness there. I really want to be with her."
"Then, why is it so important that she says yes? Love given in hopes that it is returned is not love that is simply attraction. What sort of love is it? If there is the greed of being together. Will your feelings change if she were to say no?"
Aman looked down, his eyes vibrating as he thought deeply and hard. "I do not know, maybe I will feel bad, isn't that proof that it is love?"
Raghav shook his head with his eyes closed. "Love does not hurt; there is no pain in love, only fulfilment, because love is not about receiving or asking anything. Love is giving with no hope of recognition, no desire of getting something in return, nor is it sung out openly. Love remains here in the soul."
Touching the boy's heart, Raghav continued. "Love is about making the other happy, not because it makes you happy, but only because it makes them happy. Nothing else matters, that is love. What I will say may hurt; maybe you won't agree, but I will not lie to you. True love only exists between The One and his devotees. All other forms of love are fueled by desire."
Aman exhaled all the air he had in his lungs before taking a deep breath. "Then I should not ask her, right?"
He asked Raghav, who shook his head again. "Unless you want to live a detached life, I will say ask her to marry you, but not because you want to be with her, but simply because you see The One that is within her, you give her your loyalty, your service, your devotion, your everything to make her happy. If she says no and you do not feel sad, but rather happy that her happiness is in this decision, then that would be love."
Chatter Chatter.
The sound of swans chattering amongst themselves reached them as Raghav closed his eyes, putting his ear in the direction of the swans.
"In my world, a great man once said. 'Lakho ka mela juda, hans jab jab uda akela uda.' It might not sound as good in English, but I will try to part a message. It means, 'they gathered in the millions, yet whenever the swan flew, it flew alone.' Life is just like that, you meet thousands of people, and you live with them, but when it is time to go, you go alone. All is left behind, be it family, friends, or wealth. Only The One remains."
Aman listened intently, looking at Raghav.
To his own shock, he was somehow able to understand everything Raghav meant behind it.
"I think I understand what love is."
He stood up, walking halfway down the stairs and turned around, looking up at Raghav.
Who leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees, listening intently to Aman. "Tomorrow, if she says yes, I will devote myself to The One within her and walk with her on the path to attain The One in his true form. If she says no, I will still walk the path to attain The One by devoting myself directly to him. Because that is what matters."
Raghav stood up, walking towards Aman, resting a hand on his shoulder. "How old are you and the girl?"
"We are fifteen! I hear you are nineteen, is that true, because you do not look a day over sixteen."
Smiling Raghav nodded. "Thank you, Aman, now I want you to remember something. Do not cross the boundaries of a Friend until you get married. If you are attracted to someone, only remain as friends with them, respecting the physical limitations that come with it, and if the two of you agree to be with each other, seek your parents' blessing and enter the household life with her through Marriage. After that, stay loyal to her your entire life."
Hmmm.
Aman hummed as Raghav spoke, guiding him down the stairs. "Love is not a game, where you can quit when things get tough and go somewhere else, it is not something, where it is one today and another tomorrow, these acts make a person hollow from the inside, once you give your up once it becomes easy to do it again, you won't have the desire to give your all. Once you have been with multiple people, it will be hard to stay with one."
At the bottom of the stairs, he sat Aman down on the third step and grabbed his shoes, putting them on his feet. "Just hold The One in your heart and mind and live for him."
Once he was done, he helped Aman stand and patted his hair, as Aman hugged him, taking deep breaths. "Thank you for everything."
Raghav continued patting his head before patting his shoulders and separating from him. "Now go, your mother will get worried about you staying out at night."
Aman laughed as he nodded. "If I get married, I will invite you."
"I might not be in this city by then, but I promise I will be there, one way or another."
With that promise, Aman left as he had come, and Raghav watched him running away with a smile, only to drop it as Aman was out of sight.
"You can come out now."
He sat down, wearing his shoes, as five men came out from behind trees and the temple.
They wore a bit loose three piece suit, with an unbuttoned collar and coat, in place of the trench coat they wore, small round caps.
Very different from the elegantly dressed men who met Aurelia and An.
One of the men walked forward, clapping his hands as he looked in the direction Aman ran.
"What a sweet young man." "I appreciate you letting me talk to him without interruption, but I advise you to forget about him. He is not part of our conversation."
HAHAHA
"You are just as the rumours suggest. Let's sit and talk."
"If it is well with you, I would like to walk as we talk. I have been sitting for a while now."
The man moved his tongue around in his mouth as he sucked in his cheeks. "Alright, shall we?"
He asked, gesturing in the direction Aman went, while Raghav gestured in the other direction. "After you."
They began walking together as Raghav towered over the man, who stood at five feet six inches, that too including the cap.
"Would you like a smoke?" The man offered Raghav an open box of cigarettes to choose from, but Raghav declined, gently raising his hand in front of the box.
"I do not smoke, I would advise you the same, it is bad for both health and character."
Flint
The advice fell on deaf ears as the man ignited a lighter as he lit the cigarette.
Taking a deep puff, he placed the lighter in the side pocket of his suit and grabbed the cigarette between the ring finger and the pinky finger of his left hand.
He released the cigarette from his mouth, followed by a stream of smoke.
"I will not fuck around with you, asking stupid questions like, if you know why I wanted to meet you. You were a detective in your world, I hear you solved crimes, put away lawbreakers, and so I know you are smart. That means you already know that this thing that is going on with the Count, that he is not doing this by choice; people are pulling strings for him, and he dances as they please."
"The top gang in this city, the gang you want to replace."
"Exactly, right about now they will be meeting your Princess, telling her to stay away from this in exchange for the information regarding the man you are after, the man who brought those worthless rocks, the man who was in touch with the late Prime Minister. I know about that man, too."
Raghav looked down at the man, swatting the smoke away. "You want me to do the opposite of what they are asking, reveal their truth and get them arrested alongside half the Barons and The Count. So you can pay your way into becoming a noble. Such an original plan."
"Good to know, I was not wrong about you being smart. I also knew you would do it on your own, but I did not want you to think that refusing to comply with them would make you lose the information about that man. So now you can do the right thing with utter dedication and be assured, you will get the information you seek."
Grinning, he took a puff from his cigarette and blew it towards Raghav's face, but it was blown away by the wind before it even reached his shoulder.
"You can take till tomorrow noon. I will be waiting here for the answer."
"Let me save you the effort, the answer is No. To you and them, you have given me the information that I wanted for free."
The man laughed, shaking his head. "You only know his name, but do you know where he is, how to find him, what he is planning? What I told you was just a show of proof that I am legit, as is my Intel."
"He is in this city, planning something big, likely has something to do with the mines, I am sure of it because a small gang like you knows it, and you do not operate outside the city; the other gang may operate in other cities, but not you. So for you to get to know about him, he needs to be here."
The man's eyes twitched as he grit his teeth, and Raghav leaned towards him, getting on his eye level, his serious and steady eyes, pushing the man's twitchy and angry eyes back.
Immediately, Raghav turned around and began walking away. "You will also go down with them, I hope you remember that. Not a single criminal will be left to take their place."
"This is not over, Raghav Suryanshi." The man yelled out as Raghav walked away.
However, Raghav did not respond; instead, he simply walked away into the night.
Elsewhere, Shin and Eldrain were in a carriage, sitting across from a man with waist length black hair and unreadable eyes.
"Gentlemen, I am glad you could join us. Let us begin with an Introduction. I am Markus. It is a pleasure to meet you. Members of The Band of Heroes."